Theodosian Demolitions

The Theodosian Demolitions (372-391 AD) were a series of demolitions of pagan and Zoroastrian temples throughout the Eastern Roman Empire, ordered by Emperor Theodosius I. He began a doctrine requiring the destruction of all pagan and Zoroastrian religious buildings, also resulting in the tearing-down of the Serapeum of Alexandria in 391 AD. In 405, after the death of Theodosius, the effects of the demolitions led to the rise of Christianity to become the dominant religion in the known world.

History
Starting in 333, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, as Emperor Constantine the Great claimed to have seen a vision of God in the sky before the battle of Milvian Bridge that gave him the title of Emperor of Rome. However, Paganism and other types of Christianity such as Arianism were powerful faiths, and many Roman settlements within the empire were also pagan.

Emperor Theodosius I of the Eastern Roman Empire was disturbed by the division of his empire not only by rebellious generals, but also the religions. In 372 AD, Theodosius issued a decree that ordered for every governor across the Eastern Empire to demolish all pagan structures and replace them with Christian buildings. The result was the destruction of pagan shrines and temples, the cutting-down of Gothic groves, and the burning of Zoroastrian temples. Large Christian abbeys were built in Jerusalem, Antioch, Sidon, Constantinople, and Cyrene, among other cities as the populations grew. In 391, Alexandria's Serapeum (a temple built to warship the sacred bull Apis) was torn asunder on the orders of the Bishop of Alexandria, marking the pinnacle of the demolitions. Afterwards, as the Byzantine empire consolidated and only conquered Christian lands from rebels, the demolitions stopped. Theodosius I died in 396 AD.